What I Never Thought Would Happen
by Sobi15
Summary: Karen runs away to FlowerBud Village, hoping to leave memories and nightmares of her old town far behind and to make new beginnings
1. Chapter 1 New Beginnings

For those of you who have read my work before, you might think, "Well this story sounds familiar… it isn't original at all!" and you will (sort of) be right.

This is the reboot of "What I Never Thought Would Happen".

Why a reboot? Since it has been almost 3 years, if not longer since I've updated WINTWH, I can't remember how every storyline ends, or why I even started some of them. So this is me rebooting it, trying to make it all come together more smoothly

When I wrote the other story, I had never played HM. I can now say that yes, I have played some of it :D The Gameboy ones, though. That being said, I'm still sticking with the same characters.

I deleted the old story in order to adhere to the rules of this website. I'm sorry :(

Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. Except a few that will appear much later in the story

* * *

><p>Karen Myers sat in the coach bus dead to the world. Her head was lying against the window, her mouth slack and open, with a small stream of drool steadily dribbling onto her shirt. There were heavy and dark half circles beneath her eyes despite the profound sleep. Her fingers however, every now and then would twitch.<p>

Not even the vicious potholes and uneven dirt paths could hope to wake the sleeping maiden. The most they could do was elicit a disgruntled sound from her graceful figure.

There was a girl that sat next to her on the bus because there was no other place to sit. She didn't think anything of it at first, but then Karen began to stir.

"Arryu thgdssss?" she mumbled sleepily, straining to keep her eyes opened.

"I beg your pardon?" The girl asked politely, scooting slightly away.

"Are you the goddess?" Karen asked again.

"N-no..." she answered, already peering through the aisles to see if there was a different seat available. "I'm afraid not." There weren't any. She sighed in defeat, and tried to scoot towards the aisle a little more.

"Oh." And with that, Karen fell back into her deep slumber where continued dreaming of days long passed, of harvest moons and the Goddess.

It was only a few hours later that the sleeping girl stirred, stretching and yawning. She noticed that the previously empty seat beside was not quite so empty anymore.

"Uh…hey there. Hope I didn't sleep on you or anything…" She rubbed the last bit of sleep from her eyes. The girl beside her just glared silently at her. "Okaaay then… I'll just, uh, stare out the window now."

Flowerbud Village.

That was the destination written on her one way ticket. The most important thing that she required of her new home was that it be far away form Mineral Town, where she had grown up. She did extensive research on villages, towns and cities trying to find the one that best met her needs.

She found Flowerbud Village on a few websites and decided that it was just the right amount of remote and rustic. Sunshine, forests and rivers, a little café and cobblestone streets.

It was perfect.

It was also almost a week's journey from Mineral Town by bus.

That made it even more perfect.

Except now, as Karen looked through the window, she noticed that the scenery was not quite what she was expecting. The rolling hills faded into concrete, the trees turned into skyscrapers and the all traces of farmlands disappeared from view.

Okay.

So maybe the websites she was browsing were a few years old.

Karen had been prepared for a few changes, but didn't expect anything like this.

After taking a few moments to register this surprise, she decided that enh, it wasn't such a big deal after all. Cities meant nightlife, nightlife meant bars, and bars meant a good time.

And Karen Meyers was all for having a good time.

She hopped off the bus at the terminal and asked the bus driver if there were any hostels around, or cheap (but not sketchy!) inns nearby. To her dismay, she would have to either walk or bus to the student ghetto, where although rent was extortionately high the inns and hostels were not.

"At least I'll I've got to carry is you, little guy," she spoke to her small suitcase on wheels. When she left Mineral Town, she had left almost everything behind except for what could fit in a backpack and the suitcase.

Unwilling to part with even loose change for bus fare, Karen Meyers had walked the two and a half hours from the bus depot to the inn that the bus driver had recommended.

"Perch Inn," was what he told her, "You'll never find better deals or better service. Talk to the owner, Doug. Tell him I sent you there. We're old buddies, Doug and I. Maybe he'll give you a better rate. Good luck kid."

And now, in front of her, was Perch Inn.

_Finally_!

She felt like she was about to keel over, but continued up the steps into the quaint hotel nonetheless.

_Just a little farther…_ she heaved, dragging her heavy suitcase. Thank the Goddess it was on wheels!

There was nobody at the front desk so she rang the little bell and wait a few moments before an older man came rushing to the counter.

He was a bit taller than her, and his hair was a walnut colour. His moustache waggled as he spoke, flipping this way and that. He wore an argyle sweater and dark brown pants.

"Yes my dear, what can I do for you?" Karen then told him about the bus driver who sent her to his hotel. "Oh magnificent! Here!"

Karen caught the pair of keys that were flung her way, flinching in the process and followed Doug to her room.

The hotel wasn't as large as the others she had seen on her long walk here. There were only five floors, and maybe seven rooms on each floor. There appeared to be a lot of vacancies, but in the light of being polite and practical, Karen decided that this was perhaps due to the fact that the touristic season was dying down. The walls were decorated with wallpaper, bearing faded brown and yellow paisley marks.

There was an elevator, but Doug walked right past it. Inwardly Karen cheered. _Yesssssss, now I don't need to carry food and everything up so many floors! _

They arrived at room 105.

"Here you are," Doug exclaimed. "Is everything to your liking? If you'd like, I could send my niece to help you with your things!"

"Nah, I think I can manage on my own Mr….Mr Doug."

Doug carried on as if he hadn't heard. "She's been in the kitchen as of late, that one has. Always cooking up a storm! Usually I'd welcome it and feed everything to the guests but now that summer is beginning to end… Well. There aren't as many mouths to feed and that girl is just wasting all my ingredients! At least with you here, it'll help me get rid of all the food without wasting it. I'm sure you must hungry!" He peeked outside of the room, not even waiting for Karen to answer. "Gwen! Gwen! _Gwen! _Come HERE child, to room 105! Bring whatever mess you've concocted with you!" He turned back to Karen and smiled warmly. "She'll be in soon. Now, I'll leave you to unpack. It looks like you had quite the journey," he chuckled and left.

_At least he's friendly_, Karen thought, and opened her suitcase to unpack. This hotel would do for now. She opened a secret compartment in her luggage that was full of wads of cash—she had withdrawn everything, absolutely everything down to the last penny from her savings account. She was afraid that if she accidentally used a credit card, her family would somehow find her. She had enough money to last her a while for a day by day room renting basis but that wasn't good enough for the long run. Mayhaps tomorrow after some rest she would search for an apartment to rent. Maybe Doug would let her rent the room? She closed the zipper and sighed.

But her thoughts were interrupted as a girl entered the room, carrying a tray full of freshly baked pizza. The smell alone was enough to make mouth water. She hadn't had a proper meal since she left Mineral Town, instead surviving on canned tuna and cereal.

And the girl.

She was _beautiful_.

She wore her blonde hair in a ponytail and wore a jean jacket and skirt. Her eyes were a startling ruby red, and Karen had to urge herself to look elsewhere, else she'd be staring.

"Uh…I hope that's for me," Karen said uncertainly getting up, smiling. She extended a hand to the blonde girl. "I'm Karen. I just got here."

The girl shifted the weight of the pizza pan on one hand and extended the other to shake Karen's. "My name's Gwen. I help out around here, whenever my uncle asks. And this pizza is all yours," she smiled.

"Pleased to meetcha. Though at the moment, I think I'm even happier to be eating your pizza."

Gwen laughed. "I'm just hoping it turned out…decent. My uncle just doesn't appreciate fine cooking, at least not when there aren't that many guests staying at Perch Inn. Doesn't stop me from practicing though!"

"Haha, I'm sure its good. It's gotta be. I mean, you know you've hit rock-bottom once you've tried my cooking, so I'm gonna place a safe bet that the pizza's good."

Gwen's lips curled into a half-smile. "So you want me to help you with this stuff?" she asked, already going to one of Karen's suitcase.

"I've got a better idea," Karen tried to articulate through mouthfuls of food. While holding a slice of _delicious_ pizza in one hand, she rummaged through her suitcase in the other and pulled out a bottle of wine that she had brought back with her from Mineral Town.

"Oh, I think I like you," Gwen laughed as she grabbed two glasses from the minibar.

* * *

><p>…does anyone else have a craving for pizza now or is it just me?<p> 


	2. Chapter 2 So Many Bottles

What's this? Another update? So soon? Gasp! I'm doing well. So far. Ehehe.

Enjoy guys!

* * *

><p>"'Nd so den Ah jus' picked up mah stuff and skiddled outta Min'rel Town," Karen said, slurring her speech. She was grinning lopsidedly, embracing the warm feeling that was spreading trough her body. Her face was slowly becoming darker and darker shades of red, each shade corresponding to a new level of giddiness.<p>

And Gwen certainly wasn't doing any better.

Gwen then sputtered some of her wine, in a drunken laugh. "Pffffhahaha! Heehee, so you hadda marry a chickenboy? Heehee! Ch-chick-hic-ken b-boy!...Pfffffahahahaha!" she laughed, slowly sagging to the floor, her body feeling numb and heavy under the influence of the liquor. A few moments later her hand shot up and grabbed at a nearby chair, and she struggled to try and lift herself back up. The task proved to be too difficult however so she fell right back down on the floor.

"But…But Ah thought dat peoples didn't _do_ arranged marriages anymore," Gwen said afterwards, rubbing her aching head.

Karen crawled on all fours to where Gwen was lying down and unceremoniously lay her head on the blonde's stomach, ignoring the small _oof_. She played with the empty bottle in her hand, catching it from one hand to the other as she answered, "Lotsa cultures do that!"

"Does _yer_ culture do that?"

Karen dropped the bottle. "Well. Okay. Not _my_ culture…But _still_! It gets done and I was awful bad before. Parents wanted me ter marry 'im. They tried to _fix_ me, see?"

"Like a _puppy_?" Gwen asked with wide eyes.

"_Noooo_," Karen growled, hiccupping in the process. "Like…Like a broken chair. Or something. An' chicken boy was supposed ta be the carpenter guy. The carpenter to my chair!" Karen rolled herself off of Gwen's stomach and scooted herself even closer to her. She slowly brought her face to Gwen's and whispered in her ear, "Wanna know a secret?"

Gwen nodded.

"Today's my wedding day!" Karen exclaimed, jumping to her feet with both fists in the air. "'Nd they dunno I even left! Rick's gonna be awful mad when he realizes what happened," she laughed. She laughed until she had tears in her eyes and when the tears streamed down her cheeks she realized she had trouble stopping. She slowly sat back down on the ground with a _thud_ and wiped her cheeks, her laughter subsiding, her tears still coming.

Gwen sat up sluggishly and grinned lopsidedly, keeping an unusually fierce gaze at Karen. "Yanno, yer awfurly pretty…" she began, outstretching her hand towards Karen's head, brushing aside a few blonde streaked strands of brown hair behind her ear. She squinted. "All three of you." She wiped Karen's tears.

Karen instinctively gulped and scooted a few inches away. "Yer bein' silly is all. I didn' wanna marry chicken boy 'nd have him fix me. So I came here. I came here. I wanna fix m'self." She got up and hobbled to the kitchen sink with an empty glass in hand. Her heart was pounding, loudly enough that she could feel it in her ears and after all the alcohol she drank it didn't feel pleasant.

_Yes yes yes this is a new start come on you should do it you should go for it come on Karen no one will know this is a huge city and it's probably not a big deal here go for it go for it remember remember remember how good it feels_?

_No no no this isn't right for so many reasons I mean come on she's drunk you're not about to and and and you're not even supposed to want to and what if she has someone already you don't even know that it's wrong wrong wrong it's so wrong stop it Karen_ _don't you remember last time that really can't happen again it can't it can't._

She filled the glass with water and gulped the contents down as her mind warred with itself. She filled it up again and hobbled over to Gwen who was swaying where she sat, the same goofy grin still on her face. "Yer so quiet," she noticed. "Did Ah say somethin' wrong?"

"Jus' drink this," Karen mumbled, giving the glass of water to her friend. "'Nd don't get any funny idea missus, Ah'm keeping my eye on you!"

Gwen dutiful did as she was told, drinking the water to the very last drop. With a satisfied _ahhh_ she set the glass down on the wooden floor and rolled herself (much to Karen's shocked surprise. _Really? Rolling?_) to the room's queen sized bed. She crawled atop of it, lying on the plain beige and white diamond patterned duvet and groaned. "Ah don' feel so good…" she finally said, rolling over so her back faced Karen, scrunching herself up into a ball.

Karen guiltily looked at the three bottles bottle of wine on the floor. The three _empty_ bottles of wine. Granted, she had demolished the brunt of it but Gwen managed to drink about a bottle or so on her own.

She went to refill the glass of water and sat on her bed, gently putting a hand to Gwen's shoulder. "Here. Drink some more. You'll thank me later," she said slowly, concentrating on not slurring her speech.

This earned her a groan from Gwen. "But I don't wanna."

"_Drink_," Karen ordered.

Grumbling, Gwen sat up and drank the rest of the water. She handed the glass back to Karen and then rolled on to her side once more.

It was at this point that Karen brought a garbage pail close to the bed. Just in case.

In the meanwhile she went back to her suitcase to begin unpacking the rest of the treasured items she had brought with her from Mineral Town. She swayed as she walked and her balance was only just starting to become more stable. The first thing she grabbed from her suitcase was yet another bottle of wine, one she had nicked from her parents' stash due to the fine vintage. She contemplated opening it, but decided instead to put it away in the mini fridge and save it for another day—either for celebration or to calm the nerves.

She pulled out another bottle of wine. And another. And another. And a small bottle of vodka.

Finally she found the shirts and pants and socks and unmentionables. She knew she had remembered to pack those. She walked to the dresser, everything bundled in her arms, and brusquely dumped the clothes in a single drawer. Maybe she'd sort through it later.

"C'mere," she heard Gwen mumble softly after she had finished unpacking the rest of her suitcase. Karen obeyed. Gwen sat up and groaned, clutching her head. "Oh man that was some wine you gave me. This doesn't usually happen."

"S'all good. There's no shame in being a lightweight," Karen smiled. "It's cheaper that way!"

"What time is it anyhow?"

Karen glanced at the clock on the far side of the room. "It's almost 5 in the morning."

"_Why are you still awake?"_

"Enh…couldn't sleep. I figure this way I can at least unpack. Besides, you stole my bed! I didn't want to kick you out, you didn't look so good a while back."

"You could have shared…" Gwen muttered.

This earned her a dubious look from Karen. "You were _sprawled_ all across my bed! Where was I supposed to sleep?"

"Ah…oh. Oops. Um. Well. Maybe you should get some shut eye now."

Karen's stomach did a flip at this, as a general sense of unease and desire crept through her. She stood there, transfixed.

"C'mon," Gwen yawned. "It's almost dawn. You may as well."

Her feet moved without her consent. "Alright," said resignedly. She slid into bed next to Gwen but before her head even touched the pillow, Gwen had propped herself up and cupped her chin, and then kissed her.

She lay there, milliseconds feeling like hours. Her lips were so _soft_ and she smelled so _good_ and Karen fought the instinct to wrap her arms around her with everything she had. She quickly pushed Gwen off after a second or so, before she could give herself a chance to respond. Even if she wanted to. Even if she _really_ wanted to.

"Goodnight," Karen said a bit more icily than she intended to.

She would not let this happen again.


	3. Chapter 3 She Has a What?

Thank you kindly for all your reviews! ^^

Someone asked a pretty good question that never occurred to me, about the whole Doug and Karen knowing each other since Doug is in MT and MM. Well. Ooops? I haven't really played these games but I didn't want to leave a big plot hole lying around. Hopefully I cleared it up in this chapter? (Thanks for pointing it out!)

Enjoy! :D

* * *

><p>"University, huh?" Gwen mused. "School doesn't start up for a while, there's still a week or two left until the new semester." She chewed her thumbnail thoughtfully and muttered, "Shit, I'd better ask Kurt to be on the safe side. Is it next week or the week after?" She looked up and back at Karen. "What program are you in? Please tell me you're not an Arts kid. Not there's anything wrong with being an Arts kid. I'm just one of the few sciency ones in my gang of friends."<p>

While listening to Gwen fret over school dates, Karen had been absentmindedly whisking away at a bowl of chocolate batter—she was uncertain if Gwen was making a cake or muffins—feeling a knot grow in her stomach. Talking about school made her uneasy. "I'm um… I'm not actually enrolled. I… I didn't finish high school, actually. I didn't take two exams that I needed to. That's what this coming fall was for, taking those last two exams and all and enrolling for the winter semester. Hopefully." Karen didn't want to look at Gwen and see the judgement on her face; she could feel it all the way from where she was sitting. The judging and the disappointment; that look of disgust she had come to know all too well.

She felt Gwen's hand on her shoulder and jumped. She hadn't heard her come from behind. "Goddess, don't scare me like that," she breathed.

"Sorry," Gwen giggled. She kept her hand on Karen's shoulder. "So you messed up a little bit and that's clearly something you regret. At least you're trying to fix it now. A lot of people would just keep going down a bad life lane instead of trying to get better. If you need help studying, I can offer a hand. As long as it isn't math or physics. Or history."

Gwen's words warmed Karen's heart. She certainly wasn't expecting encouragement. She felt happy. She felt _good_. She felt a renewed sense of determination, even! She felt as though she really wanted last night to happen all over again! _Wait no. No no no. Don't want that. Don't particularly…_ -Karen couldn't help but steal a glance at Gwen's soft lips- _want…that._

"Uh, well, I wasn't expecting words of encouragement to be honest," she said after a moment, managing from taking her eyes off of Gwen's lips. "I actually passed by another city on the way here. I don't remember what it was called, but it also had a university in it. I had a few hours to kill between bus transfers, so I decided to call them up and see what I'd have to do to get in. I told the lady my situation and she just hung up the phone on me, laughing," she confessed.

Gwen sighed and squeezed Karen's shoulder lightly, giving her a weak smile. "Yes. Well. I mean… I don't know what you did exactly to be in your position but… I guess a lot of people would think you deserve it? Maybe? I don't know."

Karen knew it was too good to be true. "_Aha_! You do disapprove!"

"Well, if you were expecting me to congratulate you on not passing high school do to Goddess know what you were doing instead, I do apologize," came the wry reply.

"Fair enough. Fair enough. I just. Stuff happened. Stuff happened and I should have handled that shit way better than I did, but I didn't and here I am practically two years later trying to make it better. Not perfect, but better."

"You're not going to tell me what happened, are you?"

"Sorry," Karen smiled apologetically. "I'm not… I'm not ready to talk about that just yet."

The knock on the door made both girls jump. "Are you all settled in?" Doug's muffled voice asked. "Is Gwen in there? May I come in? I have the papers." Karen was already at the door, ready to open it after the first question.

"Hey Uncle," Gwen waved from the small table. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh yes, I just wanted to see if our new tenant was all settled in."

Gwen arched an eyebrow. "Tenant? But this is a hotel."

"Well. I asked your uncle if I could have a lease for a month or something while I get everything in order. I need to figure out all that school jazz I was telling you about and I guess become familiar with the city too. This hotel is in the best location and I'm already comfortable and everything here. Besides, renting the room comes cheaper than paying every day in the long run."

"But. But you don't usually _do_ this," Gwen said in amazement. She couldn't remember the last time her uncle had any _tenants_.

Doug shrugged. "Summer's almost over and now I'm losing a lot of guest. It's not like there's a great demand for rooms or anything and this way I still make a profit. Ah, here are the papers. I just need you to sign here and here." He handed Karen a pen and put the papers on the small bedroom table.

Karen scrawled her name and handed the papers back to Doug. "Sweet. Thanks Doug! I'll see you around."

Doug turned to leave. He had one foot out the door when he stopped and looked over his shoulder, asking Gwen, "So where were you last night? You told me you weren't going back to your dorm and that you would stay the night at your grandfather's instead. He called me up in a panic this morning saying you never dropped by. Were you with Bob?"

Karen's heart contracted with a loud, painful _thud_, and had somehow managed to find its way back to her throat. She heard Gwen clear hers nervously.

Despite her reddened cheeks, she managed to give her uncle a clear, nonchalant answer. Karen noticed that she didn't keep eye contact the entire time, and cursed herself. It was her fault, putting Gwen in this uncomfortable position. She shouldn't have, she shouldn't have, and this was _not_ supposed to happen again.

"Karen and I had a few celebratory drinks," Gwen said. "I might have had one glass of wine too many and Karen offered to let me stay the night so I wouldn't have to bus and walk all the way to Grandpa Woody's house." She saw her uncle giving the bowl of chocolate batter in Karen's lap a suspicious glance. "And then I decided since I was here, I'd just make a cake. For _you_. Clearly. To thank you for letting me use your endless stores of ingredients. And for being the best uncle in the world."

_A cake! So that's what it is! _

Doug groaned, feeling himself being backed in a corner. He didn't want to scold Gwen _again_ in front of Karen for _wasting_ his ingredients and certainly not if she was making him a chocolate cake. Cake was his weakness, and even he had to grudgingly admit that Gwen made the best cakes around this area of the city.

"Very well," he sighed. "Just call him up and let him know you're alive, for heaven's sake. You near gave the man a heart attack. And let's curb that drinking, shall we? I know there's a minibar in the fridge and everything but that does not mean I tolerate drunken escapades in my establishment. Understand?" He gave them both a reproachful look as a warning before closing the door behind him.

"Damn, I was hoping to get a bite of that," Karen admitted, sadly staring at the cake batter.

"It's better this way," Gwen assured her. "At least I won't have my dearest uncle breathing down my neck about using his ingredients. Think of it as a peace offering." She sneakily poured in some _borrowed_ chocolate chips into the batter.

"You know, he looks awfully familiar… I feel like I've seen him back home, in Mineral Town," Karen pondered, stroking her chin thoughtfully.

"You probably did," Gwen answered her. "He used to live there maybe… ten years ago or so? He had a kid, Ann. Maybe you know her?"

"I used to see him in the bar!" When she saw Gwen's horrified expression she quickly added, "My dad used to bring me there for hamburgers. Jeez, I didn't drink that young… But that explains why he looks so familiar. It's been a while so I guess he wouldn't remember me."

"Well you probably changed a lot," Gwen laughed. "Plus the poor guy sees so many customers and families with his job that I'm surprised he can even remember who I am. Don't take it too personally."

"No, no. It's all good. But wait. He has a daughter. Ann. I went to high school with her. He just…uh…_left_?"

Gwen hesitated. "To be honest, I'm not sure. It was a complicating family thing. I'm his niece and all but even I don't know the full story. Anyway, now I just have to bring this to the oven in the hotel's kitchen. It shouldn't take too long."

She left, leaving Karen to her thoughts.

Since the very early morning when Gwen deemed it a _great_ idea to give her that kiss – which she could still feel if she thought about it for too long – things weren't _awkward_, but there was definitely a baby elephant in the room. After Doug's visit, the elephant doubled in size.

What was worse was that Karen wanted to bring it up. At the same time, she really, really did not want it to be brought up. It was best if it would be forgotten. But if it was _addressed_, well then. Maybe things wouldn't be quite so… whatever they were with Gwen. It definitely wasn't awkward though.

Not awkward in the slightest.

_And who is Bob anyway_? _Oh Goddess don't tell me she has a—_

"I'm back!" Gwen called out cheerfully, the door wide open. "I set a timer for roughly thirty minutes. My watch should beep but just in case it doesn't, can you remind me?"

"Yeah, no problem."

Silence.

"So…" Karen began, "How come you hang out at Perch Inn all the time, anyway? Don't you have friends to hang out with or studies to complete?" she teased.

"Earlier this week there was a mob of guests here celebrating a bar mitzvah or something and they rented the dining hall's space from my uncle. They wanted someone to cater for them, so my uncle asked me if I was interested. I work for him during the summer anyway but since this was something extra, and a bigger job, I was always in the kitchen so my uncle let me have a room here. It's just that since I'm already here, I figured I may as well take advantage of dear uncle Doug's almost endless supplies to test out recipes I've always wanted to make, but don't have the money to buy the ingredients for. The student life, my friend. It makes a penny pincher out of you," she sighed. She sat opposite of Karen at the table and rested her chin in her hand. "Most of my friends went back home for the summer or found jobs elsewhere. You're the first friendly face I see that isn't paying me for food." She smiled.

Karen could only smile back, all the while thinking about the elephant that was still wandering in the room.

"All your friends? Really? That's no fun. I heard your uncle mention this Bob guy though," Karen trailed off, trying to sound as nonchalant as humanly possible. "I'm sure you must hang out with him some."

Gwen shrugged. "Yes well… I'm currently miffed at him for something. It's about time he comes to me to apologize, instead of my going over there to demand an apology." She paused.

It was a long pause. Gwen's expression slowly morphed into an awkward one.

_Oh good, she sees the elephant too._ _Here it comes._

"He's my boyfriend."

Karen raised an eyebrow. "You don't say. How would he feel if he knew his girlfriend was going around macking on another girl?" She twisted her mouth in a wry smile, feeling somewhat relieved that it was being brought up. At the same time, she couldn't help but feel a bit hurt. Used, even. But that wasn't for Gwen to know. She certainly wasn't going to let Gwen find out that she actually enjoyed the kiss.

Gwen rolled her eyes and groaned. "That stupid jerk would probably goad me on," she muttered crossly. "He's a good guy but sometimes he can be such a pig." She crossed her arms on the table and put her head down. "Mmm srrmthat."

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm sorry about that," Gwen said a bit louder, raising her head so that Karen could see her face. "About last night, I mean. I'm a cuddly drunk. Sometimes that happens," she admitted sheepishly. "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

Karen forced a cheerful smile. "S'all good. I'd just… I'd rather it didn't happen again. I mean. It's not a big deal or anything. But I'd rather not have an angry boyfriend knocking on my door, just in case, you know? I'm more of the boy-loving type anyway," she winked at Gwen, laughing, secretly wanting to punch something so hard into the next dimension out of frustration.

Gwen just smiled at this and nodded.

"You should probably check on that cake of yours. It's been almost half and hour," Karen said, getting up from her chair. She stretched her arms upwards and yawned. Maybe tonight she would get a proper rest. Sleeping on the bus and last night's sleep, or lack thereof, was starting to put a toll on her.

But.

But after the day's events she didn't feel much like snuggling in a bed, alone with her thoughts, waiting for sleep to come.

She needed a drink.

"Oh hey, before you go out for the cake…"

"Yeah?"

"Where's a good place to grab a drink around here?"

Gwen eyes flashed anger, but it passed as quickly as it came. "Last night wasn't enough for you, eh?" she chuckled. "I hope you don't drink this much when you're studying." Karen glared at her. She stopped teasing. "Er. Anyway. The Moonlight Café is your closest bet. It's about a ten minute walk from here, just a few streets over. Here's the address." She took a pad of paper and pen from the nightstand drawer and scribbled down the location.

"Sweet, thanks! Want to keep me some company?"

Gwen looked as if she had eaten something most foul. She scowled and curled her mouth in what almost looked like a sneer. "I'd rather eat dirt."

Karen widened her eyes in concern and raised her arms as a signal of peace. "Easy there, I didn't mean to offend you. It was just a friendly invitation… Jeez."

"Ah, sorry. Sorry. That wasn't directed at you. Let's just say that I'm on _really _bad terms with the bartender right now. Just thinking about that stupid place gets me so _angry_." She folded her arms and leaned against the door, sighing hard enough to make a few wisps of her blonde hair fly.

Karen smiled wryly. "Is this bartender's name Bob?"

Gwen shook her head. "No. No, no, her name is Eve. You can't miss her. She's super _friendly_. With _all the boys_." She closed her eyes and sighed again. "Alright I'm gonna go check on that cake and probably make a few other desserts while I'm at it. Have fun at the bar," she tried to smile, but it ended up looking more like an angry grimace. Then she noticed Karen's way look. "Aaaah, I'm sorry. I really I am. I'm not mad at you, I swear. _Anyway_. Yes. Have fun at the bar. I'll see you around!"

_Well then_.

Karen looked to where she had lovingly stashed her bottles of booze and thought about maybe staying home for the night, instead. After tackling with the idea for a few seconds she decided that perhaps it was best to go spend some time away from the small room and make different friends, that hopefully weren't inclined to kiss her when drunk. Besides, she wanted to save her alcohol for special occasions. Or at least, occasions where a drink would be most welcome.

She put on a jacket and grabbed her wallet, the address Gwen gave her and her keys before heading out.

_Alrighty Moonlight Café, you can't be that hard to find…_


End file.
